How do they know to stop building and to not have a 10 meter high ant colony?
In: 86
To the best of our understanding,
The only thing that limits the size of an anthill is the available food in the reachable vicinity around the hill. It grows upwards and downwards as long as the colony can both feed itself and feed growth.
To the best of our understanding,
The only thing that limits the size of an anthill is the available food in the reachable vicinity around the hill. It grows upwards and downwards as long as the colony can both feed itself and feed growth.
As someone else has stated, the size of an ant mound/nest is mostly dependent on the population size vs available resources for the population which sustains the nest growth.
However, it is a fair bit more interesting than that. The way ants build their nests is dependent on the behavior of other ants as well as environmental cues. Population density, type of material, proximity to light or open air, the way other ants are building, pheromones, etc, are all important variables. They are able to “decide” the size of the nest according to the size of the population because the more ants there are, the more interactions there are between individuals that drive the collective need for more space. So the size of the nest is more of an emergent phenomena arising from interactions between nestmates and the environment that cascade into the final “output”, i.e. the nest. The complex architectural designs of ant nests operate on the same principles, but would be more difficult to simplify. The whole process is known as stigmergy.
As someone else has stated, the size of an ant mound/nest is mostly dependent on the population size vs available resources for the population which sustains the nest growth.
However, it is a fair bit more interesting than that. The way ants build their nests is dependent on the behavior of other ants as well as environmental cues. Population density, type of material, proximity to light or open air, the way other ants are building, pheromones, etc, are all important variables. They are able to “decide” the size of the nest according to the size of the population because the more ants there are, the more interactions there are between individuals that drive the collective need for more space. So the size of the nest is more of an emergent phenomena arising from interactions between nestmates and the environment that cascade into the final “output”, i.e. the nest. The complex architectural designs of ant nests operate on the same principles, but would be more difficult to simplify. The whole process is known as stigmergy.
Formica can build ant hills taller than humans and can take 30 years to construct. They also tend to build networks of hills rather than one big one.
Formica can build ant hills taller than humans and can take 30 years to construct. They also tend to build networks of hills rather than one big one.
they simlly expand it when they run out of space.
the colony needs to fit all the larva, the ants themselves, and some food. when there is no room for those, they simply expand the colony
they simlly expand it when they run out of space.
the colony needs to fit all the larva, the ants themselves, and some food. when there is no room for those, they simply expand the colony
Maybe it’s not that they don’t stop, maybe it’s just that no one has been around long enough to see one that high.
[They get tall in Australia.](https://steemit.com/travel/@hangin/giant-ant-hils-in-darwin-australia)
I always thought the dirt mounds were basically a result of the ants mining out the ground. The dirt has to go somewhere right?
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